When Jack Nicklaus was asked why European golfers have not won a major for eight years and answered "perhaps they are saving it up for the Ryder Cup", I can certainly see where he was coming from. We seem to save our best for the competition - the players love it and play above themselves and we now have a long tradition of success.

I am respectful of Jack's opinions and know that it rarely pays to disagree with the great man. He never says anything without giving it a great deal of thought and it emphasises how important the Ryder Cup is to European players, which is no bad thing. What Jack means is that our players really rise to the occasion in the Ryder Cup and in some ways that's a compliment to European golfers - he's saying they have proved they have it in them to win majors. The team concept, though, is obviously a huge, extra motivating factor. What Jack does not offer, however, is a solution but Nick Faldo suggests our golfers do not have the hunger and are all "too chummy".

Perhaps he was thinking of Grégory Havret's victory in the Scottish Open and the genuine delight shown by his compatriots Raphaël Jacquelin and Thomas Levet, who revelled in celebrating his success. I cannot agree with him - Nick went out of his way to be a loner on the course and off it . And an extremely succesful one he was too but you don't have to be remote or uncommunicative to win majors - look at Nicklaus and Gary Player, not to mention Arnold Palmer, who was the friendliest man in golf. Did it make them any less competitive? We can't all be like Nick.

I think you can talk to your fellow professionals and enjoy their company and still win tournaments. The European record at majors has been disappointing but people need to be reminded that three of them are held in the United States where conditions demand a different style of golf. After the mini-decline from the high point in the 80s and 90s, we're gradually seeing better results. Let's not forget either that of the 31 majors since Paul Lawrie's last win for Europe in 1999, Tiger Woods has won 11, Phil Mickelson three and Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh a couple each. That's more than half of them won by four supreme players.

There hasn't been a great deal of room for anyone else, not just Europeans, until this year when Zach Johnson won the Masters and the European Tour pro Angel Cabrera won the US Open, where Paul Casey and Justin Rose were in the top 10. We are making progress and I fully expect that to continue. It's just a matter of time before our players start winning majors again but until then we've always got the Ryder Cup.

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Peter McEvoy Successful Walker Cup captain in 1999 & 2001

I know this generation of players well and probably have the unique experience of either playing with and against or captaining or selecting each generation of British golfers since the mid 70s. I am in a position to compare them all as 19- to 21-year-olds and feel the current crop - Justin Rose, Nick Dougherty, Paul Casey and Luke Donald - matches up very favourably to the Sandy Lyle/ Nick Faldo generation.I have found them to have a very strong work ethic and their attitude and desire is as good as any group I've seen.

They won many times as amateurs and leopards do not change their spots. If you are a prolific winner at 18 or 19, you do not lose that ability to win.That begs the question why have they had relatively limited success. I think Jack Nicklaus's view that they are saving it for the Ryder Cup is not the most significant reason. The Europeans do raise their game but the US team has not recently played to its potential, so Europe's dominance of the competition is slightly misleading.

Again Nick Faldo's view that money has come too easy to them has some merit but lots of very successful professionals have been wealthy at a young age and have gone on to win majors.

Money hasn't softened Tiger Woods, for example. He is an amateur in his attitude, playing the game he loves for glory not for the financial rewards. What we should be asking of these young European professionals is whether they still have their amateur ethics and compete for glory. I think they do.

They have the talent and the appetite to win majors. What they need now is luck. There is a great weight of expectation on them, the longer they go without winning a major the more difficult it becomes. Fred Couples won the Masters in 1992, enjoying a big stroke of luck when his ball stuck on the bank at the 12th, about two feet from the water, and Mark Calcavecchia won the Open in 1989 after chipping in at the 12th after almost giving up on the shot. This group has not been so fortunate yet but something like that is all it would take.

I also think it was a little easier in days gone by. Modern equipment, coaching and stronger opposition has led to a greater uniformity and brought more players into contention so that players like Todd Hamilton win majors.

The field is not as narrow as before but overall it's down to chance and that can change at any time. As soon as one of Europe's players wins a major, it won't be in isolation . It will open the door for the others just as Lyle's Open victory did for Faldo and Ian Woosnam.